Program

Signature Programs

Young boys enjoy many benefits from an elementary school designed just for them.  A small school devoted to the crucial early years of learning and development gives full attention to its students in a nurturing community, a little world where they are loved and valued.  A number of our programs focus on the intellectual, emotional, and physical needs of young boys and provide a framework for boys to take risks and grow.

Leadership Opportunities

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    St. Bernard’s boys are given many opportunities to lead.  As early as Middle School, boys may be voted captains of their intramural teams or representatives to Student Council, which meets with the head of school every other week.  School clubs, such as the Environment Club, the Math Club, and the Astronomy Club, give the boys a chance actively to pursue a subject they care about.

Good Heart Program

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    Kindness, honesty, consideration for others, and responsibility to one’s community have been pillars of St. Bernard’s since its founding in 1904.  To formalize the teaching of these qualities the school has created a comprehensive program of character development.  Designed with the help of teachers, parents, psychologists, and administrators, the Good Heart program aims for each student from Kindergarten through Grade IX to become more aware of his identity, wants and needs, strengths and vulnerabilities, and to appreciate these things in other people.  

Social Justice

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    Fifth graders take a full-year course, designed by our teachers and counselors, to learn about equity and justice.  Boys use literature, film, and first-person narratives to gain an age-appropriate understanding of personal identity, the Holocaust, the Civil Rights movement, and the work that remains to be done today.  

COMMUNITY SERVICE

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    Service to our community is an important part of life at St. Bernard’s.  Younger boys participate in service learning projects.  They make over 2,250 brown bags lunches to donate to our neighbor, the New York Common Pantry.  They create greeting cards for children with cancer through The Scarlett Fund cancer program.  They clean up Central Park.  

Assembly

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    Every Friday morning, just after 8:30, all students and members of the faculty and staff meet for assembly in the small gymnasium on the first floor.  We hear announcements, usually from the boys.  One class gives to another, with fanfare, a small, stuffed alligator, who in this way travels each week to the neatest classroom in the school.

Public Speaking

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    Boys have many opportunities to speak at St. Bernard’s:  class play assemblies, presentations in class, recitations, and trip or athletics reports for assembly.  In the Junior School there are poetry recitations at the division assemblies; in the Middle School boys give current events and book reports; and in the Upper School each boy gives a speech at Upper School assembly.

Shakespeare Play

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    The eighth grade has performed a Shakespeare play every year since 1910.  The Shakespeare play is one of the most cherished of St. Bernard’s traditions.  It is a group effort, with each boy contributing to its success.

Class Trips

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    A St. Bernard’s education also offers boys in all grades many opportunities to learn about the world beyond 98th Street.  Our teachers plan trips to places here in New York and much farther afield.
     
    Kindergarteners are active in visiting points of interest around the city, including trips to Theatreworks, the New Canaan Nature Center, art galleries in SoHo, and the Museum of Modern Art.

Secondary School Advising

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    St. Bernard’s boys earn admission to a wide range of excellent secondary schools, both day and boarding.  The school takes seriously its responsibility to help families with secondary school admissions.  Our goal is for boys to gain admission to schools well matched to their academic ability, temperament, and extracurricular interests.

GUEST SPEAKERS

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    Speakers can enrich learning, and boys in every grade have the opportunity to hear speakers on a wide range of topics in the classroom or assembly.  Each year an author speaks to all of the boys thanks to the generous Kronengold Authors Fund, which was founded by Old Boys in 2016.

Class Plays

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    Class plays are big part of school life at St. Bernard’s.  Beginning in first grade, each class performs a class play before parents and before the entire school at a Friday morning assembly.  Each boy has a speaking or singing role, which he rehearses thoroughly with his teacher and class over several weeks.

OTHER NOTABLE PROGRAMS

— Stuart H. Johnson, III, Headmaster (1985-2020)

“If you take away only one impression from your visit to St. Bernard’s, I hope it is the vital role of enthusiasm.  Beyond the rudiments of learning, the habits of study, the self-discipline must lie the desire to work, learn, and grow.”